22 August 2011

This is to follow on from our post of 1st August 2011: http://burchandpurchese.blogspot.com/2011/08/whats-been-happening-at-sweet-studio.html of the latest news at Sweet Studio and including a bespoke cake design for a client. We have been in dialogue with the creators of the fantastic Foodpairing website in Belgium who posted one of their excellent Foodpairing trees on the flavours chosen for the cake. Foodpairing is a technology created by Bernard Lahousse whereby individual ingredients are subject to scientific testing at Firmenich and the University of Leuven. For more information of the process and thought behind this essential tool for chefs read here http://www.foodpairing.com/en/the-science-behind/. Bernard and his team got to work on compiling a breakdown of one of the ingredients in the cake to test our food pairing ability here at Sweet Studio. We are pleased to say that our ingredient matches were spot on and we also received favourable feedback from our client. We are impressed with the thorough investigation of ingredients from Foodpairing and are currently in talks to use their ingredient database to help with the design of new cakes and desserts for our range as well as using the tool in assisting us design and create special bespoke celebration cakes for our clients. Here at Sweet Studio we are extremely excited by the possibilities of working with Foodpairing and we hope to bring the information closer to our readers in the form of future demonstrations or events to be held here which will showcase the excellent work compiled by our friends in Belgium. Please check out the blog post from Foodpairing here on our Orange, White Chocolate & Gin cake http://foodpairing.blogspot.com/2011/08/foodpairing-view-on-cake-by-burch.html
Keep checking here for updates on our new relationship with Foodpairing and you can view or register for their database here http://foodpairing.com
NOTE: We are working on size integration for interactive Foodpairing trees to be included in this blog but for now please check the very bottom of this blog for an example of an interactive food pairing tree on cooked pumpkin. Have fun creating your own unique dishes/creations.

13 August 2011

We are having a bit of fun in Sweet Studio this weekend playing with our new Anti-Griddle from Polyscience. We have made a new dessert based on the eggs and bacon idea and it is available this weekend in store. The Anti-Griddle is a cool piece of technology which has a surface which cools to around -30C. It allows us to instantly freeze or chill small quantities of food which is convenient for so many applications it is hard to list. On this occasion we made a Swiss meringue of egg white and sugar and whisked until stiff peaks, we then let the meringue down with a solution of coconut puree, vanilla, ascorbic sugar syrup and fresh lime juice. This mixture was stabilised with gelatine and reserved for use at room temperature. We made a mango curd as per a normal curd recipe but used reduced mango puree for an accentuated flavour. This curd/yolk was piped onto the griddle as in the image and then we poured the coconut lime mixture over the top. What happened was a sort of reverse 'frying' of the egg. The curd hardened and the coconut ran away slightly before setting due to the low temperature. We left it to sit for a minute before sliding it off with a palette knife. The perfect sunny side up! For the dessert special on today and tomorrow we made a vanilla infused custard and soaked toast shape pieces of brioche. This was then fried in clarified butter before being glazed with icing sugar. Once cooled the egg sits on top of the toast and is garnished with our own maple cured bacon and a raspberry & tomato ketchup! As we write this blog, we have had greta interest from this and lots of people have asked about the technique, hence us compiling this information now. It shows that it is an exciting time to be in the kitchen with so many great technologies being introduced all of the time. This Anti-Griddle is so versatile, we have been using it for chocolate work, mini dessert canapés and now this. If you are in Australia and you want more information on this piece of equipment, you need to contact the official distributor Sous Vide Australia, our contact there is Dale Prentice and he will be happy to help you with your enquiries.

01 August 2011

Lots of cool birthday cakes commissioned by clients for our team to create.

We stayed on the theme of gin and had a bit of fun with this special in our cake cabinet.

Our new 'Smoked Chocolate, Coffee, Aniseed & Lemon' creation is really popular at the moment and a staff favourite.

We are close to updating our raspberry & champagne dessert - details to follow soon.

Chef Mazza creates a scary centre piece for a birthday cake.

Lots happening here at the Studio, we have been very busy with lots of cool cake commissions as well as updating a few of our desserts in our large and individual cake range. Chef Mazza created a scary haunted castle centre piece for a child's birthday the other week which seemed to go down a storm.
We have refined and are happy with our coffee, smoked chocolate, aniseed & lemon individual cake and are reworking our raspberry, lychee creation to include more fruit. The top two images are of a fantastic creation for a client who's brief was that the cake should contain alcohol and that it should be orange in appearance. Layers of lemon cream were sandwiched between yoghurt sponge and topped with a gin & tonic jelly. This was all encased in a silky smooth white chocolate & vanilla mousse and sprayed in orange flavoured chocolate. Cool little marshmallows sat on top and once bitten into revealed a soft set gin & tonic jelly. Other projects that are happening here in the studio are: the introduction of new desserts (to follow), working on a special jewellry themed event for a big client, increasing numbers of bespoke cakes commissioned by our wonderful clients/customers and work started on a massive project of which the details will be revealed here very soon. We have also sent out our first newsletter to our database and if you would like to be added then email info@burchandpurchese.com or click here to subscribe http://us2.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=12c2f06686378aa052e128bc7&id=530e3f267f&e=af392ad9bd
We will try to keep you updated as regularly as possible and thank you for reading.

My Sweet Studio is a multi sensory retail space that specializes in sweet creations perfect for spontaneous indulgent moments through to that very special dessert extravaganza.

Formerly from the UK I now call Australia home and I have built a reputation worldwide for my dessert wizardry; I fuse science with sweetness to create an exciting array of delicious tastes and textures.

Walking into Sweet Studio is unlike anywhere else you've been, a place where you can always expected the unexpected. You may find edible bubbles, a chocolate flower garden, a half chocolate and half jam spread, exaggerated raspberries or rich smoked chocolate, not to mention a magnificent selection of seasonal individual desserts or larger cakes all designed to take home for that special night in.

Bespoke celebration cakes are another special feature of Sweet Studio. A dedicated consultation area has been created with a unique and interactive flavour wall. Over 300 ingredients are on display to help you design your very own special cake creation.

This blog is centred around all things sweet although I may delve into the savoury side of the kitchen from time to time. The edges of these two sides of the kitchen are blurred more than ever before which presents an exciting new world of discovery. We will look at methods and techniques, old and new, recipes and news and events and I welcome your feedback greatly.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to welcoming you into my sweet world.